


The Broad Strokes

by Ononymous



Series: Christmas 2018 Stories and Requests [13]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Undertale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 13:19:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17325755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ononymous/pseuds/Ononymous
Summary: Undyne worked really hard at her history homework, so when the teacher chooses her to read it, she's not afraid.





	The Broad Strokes

**Author's Note:**

> Original Request: Just a slice of Undyne's life in the Underground? Something light-hearted, trivial, humorous; ideally in her youth, e.g. education blues with her coping with it in her distinct temperamental style

The children were as children free of oversight often are: Noisy. Talking mostly, but also whispering, sneezing, laughing, occasionally squawking or growling and reproducing rude noises. One in the front row of desks was not doing any of these. The only noise she made was drowned out by her classmates' antics, the scratch of her pencil as she tried to pull a conclusion to what she was working on from the ether, yellow eyes narrowed in intense concentration while brushing her red hair out of her face. A bell suddenly rang, replacing the cacophony of youthful exuberance with the clatter and scrapes of seats being taken, leaving only those scratches remaining. Those weren't silenced until the door of the classroom opened and the class' teacher flapped in.

"Good morning, class!"

"Good morning, Miss Gem," the children droned. Flipping the registry open with her wing, the teacher called out each name, receiving a "Here" of varying levels of enthusiasm.

"And Shyren is still absent," she said, half to herself. "Shyra's ill again, poor thing. Not to worry, she should be fine in a day or two. Now class, first thing today is to hand in your history homework."

"Miss Gem, Miss Gem," said the owner of a blue wing pointing as close to the ceiling as he could manage without actual flight, "aren't you going to get one of us to read our essay out?"

"Well yes I normally would, but since you are all going to gym class this afternoon I'd like to save time."

"Aww..." he pouted. His glasses chose this moment to slide down his beak.

"Now Berdly, you've read your homework aloud three times in a row," said Miss Gem. "It's fine to be proud of your work, but be careful about showing off."

Undyne, trying super hard to not be detected adding her final sentence, felt relieved for the small window of time she needed. This lasted as long as it took for the door to open, and for Principal Eyewalker to scurry over to Miss Gem's desk with a note before withdrawing again, muttering about eye drops.

"Hmm. Everyone, Gym class is cancelled. Bearnard's been called away to talk with the King about something. I suppose we can have one of you read aloud after all."

"Yes!"

"Not you today, Berdly."

"Aww..."

"Instead, how about... Undyne. It's been a while since you read. Could you do so today?"

Memories of the last minor fiasco were shoved aside by the virtue of pride in her newly-finished work. "Yeah, Miss!"

Undyne got up and made the small trek to the space reserved for show and tell. While all were focused on her, Berdly took this opportunity to whisper something to the snake coiled next to him, and both sniggered.

"So then, Undyne. What did you write about for history?"

"I wrote about the first war with the humans."

Miss Gem smiled. "Appropriate for you, Undyne. Well, in your own time."

Undyne cleared her throat. From her position behind Undyne, Miss Gem missed the glare her student shot at Berdly.

"' _Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS. One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell._ '"

"Undyne," interrupted Miss Gem, "is that not straight from the textbook?"

"It is," she admitted, "I'm doing an ab-track."

Her plumage twitched in confusion. "An ab-track?"

"I heard a lizard in an older class talk about it. Science-y essays tell their reader what their essay's about before they write it so you know if it will bore the pants off you and you can skip it. Thought it sounded cool!"

"Oh, an abstract." The class giggled good naturedly while Undyne grinned. "Well, begin in your own time again, I suppose."

"Gotcha!" She cleared her throat again. "So, monsters were sitting around being totally nice and non-aggressive and doing all sorts of neat stuff like looking straight at the sun. Then one day, a couple of humans turn up and say 'Hey, stop stealing our souls', and the monsters said 'Golly, we haven't taken any souls', and the humans said 'we don't care, just stop it or else'. 'Or else what?' 'We'll kick your butt.' 'That isn't very nice. Also stop poking me with a stick.' 'Make me.' 'But can't we be friends instead?' 'No, two for flinching!' And that's how the war started."

"Now as you know, the Monster Army was cool as heck. The King led it of course, but it had a million dogs ready to bite the humans, an elite ghost squad for spying and sneak attacks, Boss Monsters in the back ready to lob fireballs at them - oh and that's where the really cool General who had served five kings an' queens in a row was - and Froggits to bring supplies from their camp. The humans were kinda boring, honestly. Buncha guys with swords, buncha guys with arrows, buncha guys on horses, couple of mages, and the hated stick-pokers. Some had spears though, they were pretty cool."

"The big battle opened with a skirmish. Their horse-guys and our horseguys charged into each other to try and bash their brains out. The humans were pretty tough, but their horses scared easily, so we were able to get them to run away. It was a good start, but when they went for the flanks, that meant fighting the humans directly, no cheats. As it turns out, humans are really freaking strong. Some monsters poofed into dust after a single hit! As cool as they were, the human army held together, and we had to regroup with the main army."

"Before the General could advise the King on what to do next, the humans went on the attack, and started moving towards us. The dogs in the center were very good boys, and didn't run away at all, even if their tails were between their legs. But the humans didn't get any less strong by running across the field. Our line was holding, but taking heavy casualties. That's when the ghosts popped up behind the humans and tried to get their leaders, to spook them good from behind. Swords are useless against ghosts, dummies. They even took a general down! But before they could grab a soul, the mages stepped in, and magic still works pretty good. Held the ghosts at bay until the soul went away, then started cutting them down with lightning. **POW!** " Undyne punched her own hand for effect.

"The line still held, but it was only a matter of time. That's when the Hammer of Justice stepped up. Gerson ran from where the King stood, and he raised his massive really heavy hammer that only the strong could wield, and knocked back a dozen humans with each swing. We still couldn't grab a soul, the humans were trained in keeping their bloody corpses clear of us. Kinda gross, but it's hardcore. Anyway, Gerson alone bought the monsters time to consolidate, but we were starting to run out of troops. Gerson could have kept them back all day, but then he took an arrow to the knee, and he barely got away, though not before struggling to fend off a mage single handed and rescuing six support Froggits. The armies clashed again, **CASHEEN! BOOMPH!** The Boss Monsters used fire to force the humans to group together and make it easier to fight them, but even if you fought them five to one they were still really strong. And then the mages started with their counterspells, summoning rain and wind to get rid of the fire."

"It looked bad now. The General told the King to retreat because if he was killed the entire army would be wiped out. The King nobly carried Gerson in his arms, praising his valiant skill the whole way, while the General led five Boss Monsters and a thousand dogs in a rearguard defence, and nobody knows what happened to them, but you can guess. Well, we lost. It sucked. There weren't that many who followed the King back to the Castle. A day later, the King himself stood at a new army with whoever they could get as the humans caught up with them, and Gerson watched from the castle walls as he personally fought so hard it scared the humans for a moment." 

"But while the King wasn't hurt too bad, the other soldiers were getting dusted again, and he couldn't stand it. So he sent for parley. 'Isn't there a way we can stop fighting?' 'Tell you what, you gather all the monsters, all of 'em, and you sit in that mountain over there for a while and think about what you've done.' 'But we haven't done anything.' 'And it better stay that way. Oh, and three for flinching!' So we all went into the mountain, and that's when we realised we were suckered! They cast that stupid spell and put that stupid barrier around us, and now they get to stare straight at the sun while we stub our toes and hooves and claws in the dark! Well it won't be too long now, the King's gonna free us, and then it's gonna be round two. _Ngah!_ "

Undyne hoisted her fist into the air. The energy of her narration had won the class over, and they cheered as if Asgore was about to walk in and announce her prophecy had come to pass. Berdly remained silent and stoic, the most respect he could stand to offer. Miss Gem smiled at the excitement of her class, knowing that while she was there it would soon quiet down, as indeed it did.

"Well, that was an enthusiastic piece of work Undyne," she said, "I have a few questions about it however."

She wheeled round to face her teacher. "Shoot!"

"What year did the war happen?"

"Uh, 'Long ago'."

"Hmm. And was it Asgore who led the monster army, or was it his father Aslaud?"

Undyne rubbed her arm, feeling a little tender. "That list of names gets a little confusing, I kinda got lost, so I rewrote it to avoid names. Easier to make out, right?"

"And what was the Royal General's name?"

"Umm, Sir... Fight-Guy?" Berdly and his serpentine friend sniggered.

"Undyne," said Miss Gem patiently, "it's great you're so passionate about history, and it's important we learn it, but you can't just talk about the exciting parts. You need the details behind it, or all you have is a story without proof. If we can't remember what really happened, we won't learn from it, and we'll probably end up doing the same thing."

Undyne's blue cheeks darkened. "Yes, Miss."

"On the bright side," Miss Gem examined the script to Undyne's performance, "your spelling and grammar is excellent. Better than my boyfriend Polar's. So I'm going to give you a C+ grade, okay? You did work hard, you just need to think about where to apply your work."

Berdly smuggled in a highly punchable amount of smug in his expression before Undyne turned to talk back to her desk.

* * *

As kindly as the constructive criticism had been, it still gnawed at Undyne all day that her work had been so lowly valued. She vented with the primary source of her essay over two cups of Sea Tea.

"Ya told 'er about the elite ghost squad?"

"Yeah! I told her everything you said, Gerson. And I didn't just copy, I wrote it my own way!"

"Bah," he waved a leathery hand dismissively, "teachers ain't got no sense of drama. Never catch me teachin', wa ha ha! Anywho, long as you learned the right lessons, that's what matters. Here's to little miss scholar!"

They shared a toast. Gerson watched Undyne's face shift from grumpy to contemplative.

"...why, though?"

"Why what?"

"Why'd Asgore give up? He was doing fine, he still had soldiers. Why not fight on until he lost?"

Gerson's yellow eye narrowed. "Young Undyne, orderin' troops to fight ain't a game. Orderin' them to die is even less of one."

"But what if he got lucky? Maybe he could have thrown a fireball or something at their mages and then they get scared and run away. If he held out a little longer..."

"Then he'd be king of wherever his dust settled. You gotta know when to fold 'em."

"But you made him sound so cool, almost as cool as you were."

"An' he was, and I was, but why let people die for a lost cause-"

"I don't think it was lost, you made the army sound so cool."

Gerson massaged his left knee. "'Cool' ain't got much tactical merit on the battlefield, missy."

"Well maybe he just wasn't that cool after all, if he just surrendered. I'm gonna go fight him some day, and prove it!"

"Do as you please, Kiddo," Gerson finished his drink. "an' nice knowin' ya if ya try."

"Yeah," she beamed, "it is nice to know me!"

"That's not-" He gave up. "Eh, couldn't keep you out of the deep end if I tried, could I?"

"That's the best place to swim. Proves I'm tough!"

"Well before ya mount an insurrection, got any other homework I could help out with?"

"Yeah, actually. How are you on long division?" Gerson was one of the few monsters she felt comfortable asking for help with things like that.

"I c'n barely add. Used to know a guy, he..." Gerson scratched his head. "Anyway, I'm folding on that one too, Young Undyne. Maybe that bird brain in your class could help?"

"Could. Won't. Wouldn't ask his stupid beak anyway, he'd lord his straight A's over me. Well, I'll just have to figure it out myself. And then I'll go and prove the King sucks at fighting! And then I'll go and find a birthday present for Shyren. Thanks, Gerson!"

"Wa ha," he said as she marched out of his shop, "got her priorities straight, she does."

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!


End file.
